Learned something about dishwashers tonight.
 

If you stuff a dishwasher full of dirty dishes and plastic bowls and spatulas and slam the door shut without paying attention, it's possible one of those spatulas gets pushed over the back of the cart and gets wedged up against the giant heater coil at the bottom. It's also possible, during the drying, for that spatula to catch fire whilst touching the heater element and spew black soot and smoke like mad. It's also possible that this will ruin all the plastic bowls in said dishwasher, along with leaving a ridiculous melted plastic smell throughout the entire house. It's also possible said smell may never leave the dishwasher now.

Learn something new every day.

The heating element are hidden on some of the dish washers, so you can stuff it.:)

Dude, you said, "whilst."

:D

I bet you can get that smell out.

In the future, just don't use the drying feature, and you're safe. Evaporation still works.

There's a joke in there somewhere about engineers, but it wouldn't be productive.

Did the smoke detector go off?

No, I'm now not even sure my smoke detector works.

This is only the 3rd time I've used a dishwasher. First two were to degrease engine components.

I'm all about hand-washing dishes.

I had a similar event take place years ago where a tupper ware lid had found its way onto the heating element causing a small fire that melted the bottom out of the plastic tub. I came home and found the house smelling like an electrical fire but could not figure out what had caused it. I had started the cycle before work so it had been all day since melt down. If freaked me out when I discovered what the problem was and the smell lingered for weeks.

I will never own a dishwasher that does not have a tub made out of stainless, no more plastic dishwashers for me. I had normally been in the habit of starting the wash cycle right before going to sleep but now run it before. That way I am home and awake if something goes wrong.

this. takes almost no time, little energy and the kids get some humility.

Oh well...at least you have a perfectly viable car parts washer now :)

open the door and remove the panel on the inside of the door. you will learn something else

My highest risk with dishes is 'dish pan hands'...

One of my college jobs was as an appliance repairman. There were two married students apartment buildings that had dishwashers, about ten units each. Do you know what happens when you put regular dishwashing soap in a dishwasher? Apparently there are a lot of newlyweds who don't. A LOT of them.

I was going to tell you to turn in your man-card due to:
1. Using the word whilst
2. Using the word spatula
3. Using the dishwasher

But then you post this:

Well played Schumi, well played.

actually #3 does not count. men are to lazy to wash by hand. but....when i go to schools in OKC, i wash by hand ONLY because i use the same glass and just rinse it out, but i use paper plates so i just throw them away.

Back in the 1970s I rented a duplex and had a buddy room mate. We were typical young guys and ate a lot of meals standing next to the trash can in the kitchen. One day we loaded up the dishwasher and it made horrible sounds. Being guys we took the dishwasher apart and found several shirt buttons blocking the pump. There were several pins and broken buttons. After we put it back together it ran fine. We mentioned that to the landlord and he said the apartment was rented to several Iranians before us. He said when they left the house was a mess and there were several shirts in the dishwasher. They had been using it as a clothes washer. :eek:

Any burnt cotton in the microwave?

The place did not come with a microwave or washer - dryer. We provided that ourselves.

The only thing I know about dishwashers are that they like chocolate and flowers.

"Mom, why do you store Tupperware in the oven???????????"



(mothers day morning, smoke alarm screetching, we're baking her blue-berry muffins............no no no Mom, everything is under control................."



looking back, good memories.

FYI: Wooden spoons provide a nice "Campfire" aroma to the kitchen when they are wedged against the heating element.

I've been banned from the kitchen. Too many mistakes - not allowed there any more.


(not true, fantasy talk).



.

I lived in a place with three other guys, we had dishes but no dishwasher. Inevitably we had no dishes but a sink full of filth, we decided that something had to be done when the fruit flies invaded. First we tried to pay some girls to wash them, but the flies and odor scared them away. We eventually put on the hazmat gear that my buddy used for painting oil based paint and moved in for triage, alas the patient was too far gone so into the trash they went. After that point we decided that plastic plates and cups were worth every penny, and that our next place would have a dishwasher.:cool:

We kept our place very clean and tidy. We both were having a good time living the single life and would bring home girls for the night. Getting the girl upstairs to the bedrooms was a lot easier with a nice looking downstairs. Ah the good ol days.

Last time I used the dishwasher it caught on fire.....literally on fire. It was old and just a coincidence but guess who does not do dishes at our house anymore?

I went to two dishwasher fires in my career. They both made a mess. Shut off water and rip unit out of cupboards. Most are only held in place with a couple screws. Carry outside to extinguish. Call insurance company (owners job). The smoke damage from a dishwasher fire can exceed $20,000 in damages. Repaint kitchen, repair/replace cupboards, dry clean clothing, carpets, drapes. What needs to be cleaned afterwards can be immense.

Well now I know why the air outside smelled so bad yesterday.

Oh wow. Yeah mine isn't anything close to that bad.

The inside of my dishwasher is all stainless steel. So the spoon flared up, melted into a puddle, but nothing else caught around it. I actually got it all cleaned up last night and ran another wash cycle with just detergent and it smells acceptable now.

Me too. I hand-wash to keep my hands & fingernails purdy.

I gotta try that!